Cody Casterline 🏳️‍🌈 @NfNitLoop@mastodon.social

*sad trombone*

Found a phone number for the "National Visa Center" that is processing my husband's green card visa. Gave them a call. They have a record of receiving our documents, but it may be 5 more weeks before our documents are "in the system". (I expect they got mailed/faxed documents and have to do data entry again.)

And then there's another round of applications and application fees. More documents to gather/submit. *sigh* A lot further off than I thought.

*sigh* Being stuck in bureaucratic limbo sucks.

About a month ago we got notification that my husband's green card application had been approved. They sent documentation off to have the visa issued. They said to check back if we haven't been contacted in 30 days. So of course, 30 days later, I'm checking in.

The process is just to e-mail some-address@state.gov with your case details. Which I did. But it's been 6 days since then and no word back. (Not even a: "We got your e-mail".) 😑

Hmm, searching for #Seattle, the hashtag is overrun with porn/escort ads. Many from a single #Mastodon instance. It would be nice if the drop-down to mute/block a person would also let you mute/block an instance.

Getting excited about the move to #Seattle.

We're supposed to hear back about the final visa paperwork "within 30 days" which is (*checks notes*) .. 2 days ago. So of course I already e-mailed them to ask what's up. (It's likely in the mail. US -> Iceland mail can be slow sometimes.)

So every day when the mail comes through the mail slot I'm up out of my chair to go check. :p

They also often seem like a ploy for attention.

*coy* "No... you ... you don't want to see what's in here."

*click* *read* *yawn*

... that you can configure #Mastodon to just auto-expand all content warning posts.

It seems like 90% of "content warnings" are for innocuous stuff anyway.

When you vote from abroad, the ballot you download comes with a page you’re supposed to print out and use as your envelope. You fold it up and tape three sides of it to seal it.

Only, the tape that we had was yellow. So the package I ended up mailing just screams “HELLO, LOOK AT ME, I AM A BALLOT!”

Anyway… yay, voted. ✔️

Logged in to LinkedIn for the first time in ages. (My husband is starting his job search soon as we plan to move to #Seattle soon, so I thought I'd plug him to my network there.)

Wow, is it a cesspool. Constant up-sells and attempts to slurp your contact data. Facebook-like algorithms showing a non-chronological timeline, and posts that your contacts liked. Yuuuuck.

Is there not something better?

I've got a cold this week and the constant sinus headache is making it really difficult to concentrate on work.

Also, I'm not sure over-the-counter decongestants are a thing in Iceland. The last time I went to the pharmacy to ask for it, they ended up giving me Paracetamol (AKA: Tylenol). Uh, thanks?

My most used feature in iOS 12? “Deliver quietly”.

Technically it’s not a new feature. In previous versions of iOS you could set notifications to deliver quietly. But it required going into the settings app and toggling multiple options.

Having a quick way to enable it right when and where annoying app notifications pop up is 100% better and will help combat app attention-seeking behaviors. 👍🏼👍🏼

That same contract also said that "This contract cannot be amended." ... but, they ended up amending it so that we would sign. (Basically nullifying the claim on work outside of work hours.)

So, the contract wasn't even internally consistent. "We paid a lawyer good money for this contract!" Well, it's not *my* fault you overpaid for this pile of garbage. :p

Was reminiscing about dumb legalese boilerplate.

One time an employer asked us all to sign an "NDA" which turned out to actually be a non-compete, which also claimed ownership of any works we created outside of work.

We techies read it and refused, worried about OSS work. We were told that our "continued employment might be in jeopardy" if we didn't sign. Then we pointed to the clause in the contract that said "I am not signing under duress." and said "Well, now we really can't sign." 🤣

Posting over on Twitter, I kept running up against their newly expanded character limit.

Then realized: "Oh, right, Mastodon exists! I'll go post there!" :p

Overheard #Icelandic of the day:

"Ég tók ekki til fyrir þig."

Literally: "I took not to for you."
Roughly: "I tidied not up for you."

The word order makes me feel like I'm thinking in archaic English. ❤️

@NfNitLoop so, having a nice leisurely sit in the Dublin airport as we wait for our flight home. Aah.

Dublin was nice. I’d hoped to see more of the night life but we ended up back at the hotel by 10:30pm. #old

My husband has finally begun to acquiesce to arriving to the airport for travel ridiculously early, which is my usual. This reduces my stress levels when traveling about 80%. Yay.

In Ireland for work. Walking down the street, we ran into another gay couple from Iceland, who are in Ireland for work.

Small world? Go Ireland? 🤷🏼‍♂️😊